Tuesday, January 30, 2007

What a busy January we have had.Finally the Lord of the Rings concert is over and Mariah doesn't have practice until 10 p.m. Just ballet 5 days a week. She has new point shoes and they hurt her feet, mostly because they are new.

We finally had a few flurries of snow and some cold temps. The wool socks are nice and comfy. I may have to bite the bullet and knit DH another pair.

Everyone sent their sick kids into the preschool last week, so I had a cold all weekend.Jordan, my oldest, was sick with a UTI and Last night Mariah came down with strep throat.She goes to the doctor today.

My DH is on call all week and he probably would like to stay at work, there may be fewer germs at thehospital than at the house this week. Nah, not really. Hospitals are really germy.

In Art news, I finally finished my "I" cards and sent them to the hostess. I really had a hard timegetting into the groove for this project. I ended up with "ink blots" and they did turn out fine, if a bitstark. They get the job done. Now I have 1 month to stress over the letter "S".

When I have time to look into techniques I get really excited about mixed media and collage, but I'm not impressed with my efforts. Everything is a learning experience though, so at least I'm growing and learning.

I actually spun some yarn on the old Louet last night. I am really hankering for a new wheel.Keep your fingers crossed that Alden Almos gets my wheel done this Spring. I really can't afford another andthe one he is building is paid for, and has been for a few years. ( I ordered it almost 5 years ago)

I knit on the FLAK last week and finished an arm! I've picked up the stitches for the other arm but I've been so fuzzy in the head that I haven't knit on it yet. Cold meds will do that to you. My friend Anita, http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/ has knit 3 FLAK sweaters in the last year. As well as many other sweaters, shawls and socks. The woman is amazing, she also knows how to put pictures on her blog.I still have to figure that out!

Food: In the last week we have had a lot of easy or comfort type food. Chicken stew, Chicken soup, roast chicken, pasta, potatos cabbage and smoked salmon was the most unusual. The children wouldn't eat it of course. Everytime I start cutting back on the meat some of us get sick and I go back to relying on old favorites that are heavy on the chicken. I don't believe that the lack of meat is what causes the illness, in fact, I Know it isn't the reason. I do know that most of my comfort foods are short on Veg and heavy on meat of some sort, usually chicken. I need to find some new comfort foods. If you have any ideas please let me know.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Last post I talked about ATC's and the Alphabet swap in which I'm participating.I went to the group files and read about people's likes and dislikes andrealized that using a religious stamp to make a modern day Russian Icon, wasn't going tocut it. I might offend someone, and I really don't want to do that! Seriously.I consider myself spiritual and not really religious. Some of those paintings of Mary and thebaby are beautiful.

I thought about Icons in the news and ads of today. Every thing from Angelina J to coca-cola.

So I started searching for a modern day Icon on the web. A person that I could create a great bit of art around.I almost settled on Einstein. I love that man. He was so out there, he used to get lost on his way homefrom the college. The campus police routinely took him home when they found him wandering.I may suggest an Einstein swap later.

Then I started to simplify. I found some great pictures of Ice on a medical symposium ad to my husband.So I started googling Ice. I found myself searching for pictures of glaciers hidden in a box in my basement from our 3 years in Alaska. I just didn't feel the cards were good enough to send out.

I went even simpler. so "I" is for INK or INK Blot. I made ink blot cards today. Easy peasy.Now to add letters and the word Ink or Ink blot. These just might make it into the swap mistress.

I've already picked my letter for the second half of the Alphabet swap. I have 2 months to come up withsomething for the letter "S" All ideas are welcome.

Knitting Update:One of the women I taught to knit in November finished a scarf for a family member in time for Christmas.How cool is that?!

I haven't picked up my sweater that I put down in July, but I will soon. I have still been knitting socks like crazy. I also have been spinning some Merino wool that I have no idea what it will become, I don't often spin with a project in mind. I'm trying to perfect my point of contact spinning, but is hard with the old Louet S10.